“On February 15th, a parliamentary committee in the
Netherlands will hold a closed hearing on whether to support
US-style software patents in Europe.”
“In the US, the software patent situation is out of control.
British Telecom has a patent on hyperlinking on the Internet and is
shaking down ISPs for royalties. Amazon.com is using its “one click
shopping” patent, on a mechanism where cookies and databasing are
used to “recall” some data, to attack web sites. Every week brings
another economic disaster as a result of US courts’ decision to
allow patents on software.”
“Is it the same in Europe? No. If you look at the European
Patent Office you discover there is currently no way of patenting
software or software parts. But the European Patent Office is
currently trying to change the European situation into a situation
comparable to the US.”